Getting to Know You

Wednesday, March 24, 2010

Duke wouldn't sleep last night.  Wasn't tired, I guess.  Lord knows it happens to me (alot lately).  I went in to talk to him for a bit.  He kept asking so politely "Mommy, please come in. Open the door Mommy.  You can come in.  Please Mommy." and as Darrell said, he'll only be this age once and soon probably won'twant much to do with me.  So I went in and we sat in the rocking chair.  What can I say, I caved.  I wanted to be loved by that little boy for a moment and to enjoy it, selfish as it was.  He wanted to answer me
(earlier I had been asking him a question which he kept responding 'yes' to, which was not an appropriate answer.  I would tell him 'that's not an answer' and he would dissovle into giggles)
so I tried to think of some questions.  I learned a lot about him, though I'm sure most answers would be different today.
What's your name? Duke.
How old are you? 2
What's your favorite #? 3
What's your favorite animal? Whale
What's your favorite fish? Tang
What's your favorite color? Purple
What's your favorite reptile? Frilled Lizard
Who's your favorite Sesame Street Guy? Elmo
What's your favorite book?  Little Einstein (a library book we checked out yesterday)
What's your favorite book that we have? Bee & Me (we rarely read this)
What's your favorite stuffed animal? The lion
What's your favorite animal at the zoo? The otters
What's your favorite song? So I Never Will Forget
What's your favorite Bible story? The Cross
Who's your favorite Little Einstein? Annie
Who's your favorite from Clifford? Emily Elizabeth
What's your favorite thing to do outside? Spraying (as in car, plants, Daddy...)
What's your favorite dessert? Chocolate
Do you like chocolate pieces or chocolate cake better? .....
or both?  Both!
What's your favorite food?  Cake
What's your favorite regular food? Nemo snacks
Really?  I thought it would be sausage.  Nemo snacks and sausage!
What's your favorite part of school? Painting
What's your favorite fruit?  Peaches (he never eats those)
What's your favorite vegetable?  Broccoli
Broccoli!  You don't eat broccoli!  I do.
Who's your favorite from Nemo? Bruce

" 'Quote' of the Day"

Tuesday, March 23, 2010

     After sitting in front of the computer and getting a chance to read a friend's blog and her "Reflections on Mothering", it reminded me of some things that I had been feeling this week, and brought to light some things that had been hidden.  She talked about how she always thought she'd be like her mom, and the other ideas she had about motherhood, which are so strong in us until we have a child and have to adjust.  I remember being pregnant when everyone was a harbinger of doom, telling us "oh, you wait, you'll see" and things of the sort.  That we'd never have a shower or breakfast.  That a night's sleep was a thing of the past.  That our kids would bicker and not get along, and what a headache they'd cause us.  From everything people said, we wondered if they were lying or stupid, since they all had multiple children and it sounded like they didn't enjoy having kids at all.  In general there wasn't a lot of joy in any of them and they really didn't see their kids as a blessing.  I swore to be different.
     Now just 3 years later, I find that I too am falling into the trap of blasting those dewy-eyed moms-to-be with a hard dose of reality.  And probably making it sound a bit worse than it is, so I can feel like I'm doing something hard, surviving in the trenches, being a super mom of sorts and not just baking cookies and coloring and playing all the time.  But really, I am playing all the time.  I get a full night sleep every night (well, other than the occasional insomnia, but not due to the kids).  I can take a shower anytime, even if my kids are awake.  Yes, there's a lot of "training" thrown it, which on some days really takes it out of me, but on the whole I'm as fulfilled as I've ever been.
     Which leads into the sleep-chasing thought I had the other night: Lilly will be a toddler soon.  I loved the toddler times, even though they were excruciating! They were so much fun, even though I said “No” about 300 times a day for 6-9 months (that felt like 2, no, 5, years when you’re pregnant on top of that). And then all of a sudden you’ve got a little boy who is a little person, who you can relate to and have conversations with and who makes these crazy observations about the world. So why am I so dreading the toddler years with Lilly?!
     Ha, well she’s a girl, which intrinsically frightens me. (more on that below) She has this darling little look that says “I’m up for anything, especially trouble.” And frankly, my world is pretty ordered right now.  It's as predictable as possible considering I'm dealing with two small children, that is. And we all know I love order and control!!!
     I'm just praying that God gives me wisdom on how best to handle her, so that she can emerge on the other side a happy, good little girl whom I have a relationship with like her brother.

     As I was reading some of Erma Bombeck's books, I was struck by this one passage that sums up EXACTLY what I've been trying to put into words about girls and boys.  The chapter was about which is harder, girls or boys.  There were letters from readers (I have no idea if they were real or not), which all said the same thing.  Who is the hardest to raise?  Girls.  As she states, with boys everything is right there on the surface, from the flies over the wastebasket to the smelly socks.  Girls are more expensive. When you ask a boy what that noise was upstairs he replies "'Joey threw the cat down the clothes chute. It was cool.'  When (my) daughter is upstairs playing with her dolls I yell 'What are you girls doing?' and she sweetly replies 'Nothing'.  Later I find out they're making cookies with my new bath powder and expensive moisturizer."
[This was really a conundrum for me on how many quotation marks and of what kind to put in since I'm quoting someone's work who was quoting someone quoting someone.  I'm going to just leave it be, since if anyone is reading this, you won't know if it's right anyway.]

Misplaced Fears

We have handicapped doors in our house, you know, the kind with the long handles that you pull on rather than a round knob that has to be turned.  When Duke was about 10 months old, he could open them.  We worried that he would be getting into and out of every room.  While there wasn't one of these knobs on the front door, there is one on the garage. 
Our fears never came to fruition.  He never really took advantage of his power.  And it comes in handy now; one of his jobs is to let the dogs out.
There have been some odd things happening around here.  I've been writing a lot of them off because frankly, I can't be too sure if I've locked the dogs up, or been sure to shut the door from the garage all the way.  The dogs have been roaming free at odd times.  I know this by the trail of dog hair and doggie snot on my couch.  I know becasue they are at the door to greet me when I come home.  And I now know this because Hunter has opened doors consistently enough now that I no longer question my memory.
In fact, yesterday he escaped the house 3 times.  First he opened the door to their room twice- once in the middle of the night.  I came out early and locked them up again.  While I was making my coffee, in they trot, Hunter having sprung them.
Later we had them in their room again; once again a strange appearance.
That afternoon Trixie was whining at the window.  I thought maybe a cat or bird was out there.  Nope, it was Hunter, in our neighbor's yard, sniffing around and doing his business.  Miraculously I caught him and dragged him back in, being ABSOLUTELY certain to shut the doors tight incase the change in pressure from people going in and out had somehow freed him.  A few moments later, he was out again!  That little dog had figured out how to open the door form the kitchen to the garage, where the overhead door was open, and escape.
Door handle covers for our type of knobs are exceedingly expensive.  It would be $100+ to buy covers for them.  If I wasn't going to do that for the kids, I'm certainly not going to for the dogs.  So what options do I have?  (Hunter has a microchip, so they'd eventually track us down if he got really lost.  You can look at that how you like.)

Done in a Day

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Can you tell I've been on a kick to get some sewing projects finished with?  This is what I made today.  It took me about 35 minutes (if I'd been able to work straight through).  It was so easy and I think it turned out really cute!

I just love projects that don't drag on.  Unfortunately that seems to be the type I usually pick...  I may make hundreds of these dresses simply for the fact that I can have the thrill of completion so quickly.  Anyone want one?!

Made this the same day for Gabby- I like the color combo a lot better on hers. 

Now I just need to be taught how to take better photos...

Problem Solved

We've tried to turn our kitchen into a "green" zone- added composting and have gotten rid of paper towels and napkins.  So we've been using dish towels and washcloths a lot more.  We have been keeping a towel on the oven handle:

but it usually end up like this:

Darrell had sent me an idea from a blog about putting velcro on the towel to create a loop so they don't fall off.  But, velcro always sticks to everything in the wash and pulls the fibers out.  And since I don't have the special foot for sewing velcro, it can be a little difficult (as in I've broken several needles on other velcro attempts).  So I thought buttons might be good, and it would be great to learn how to do buttons and buttonholes.  Because all of my dishtowels are alternately stained, have bleach marks, or both, I found some cute flannel on sale and experimented with it.  Here's the results. 

We're pretty pleased with it so far (it's only been 2 days).  Next I think I'd like to do it with some real dishtowels, once I can afford a couple of nice ones and matching buttons!

Sands of Time

Monday, March 8, 2010

I've never understood the appeal of sand. Maybe it's because I was deprived as a child and never had a sandbox. Oh wait, I did. It was the beach. And I hated the sand. It was always everywhere and stuck to everything.
When we put the sandbox in last year for Duke, it was with a little misgiving. Mostly in the form of "how am I going to keep this out of the house?” But, it's provided many hours of entertainment for Darrell and Duke. Who knew that a sandbox was a suitable substitute for snow? They've made sand sharks, sand balls, sand castles, and had the usual dump truck traffic. During the summer, we just jump in the pool or spray off with a hose. So, most of my fears have been unfounded.
At preschool they have a sandbox on the playground. Every now and then, Duke must get a little overzealous with it. Now, I only have his word to go by and as our pediatrician says, at this age it kind of seems like they're always hallucinating. But, here's the sitch according to Duke:
A few weeks ago he came home and when we took his sneakers off, they were FULL of sand. Later, I changed his diaper. Also full of sand. And his ears: full of sand. I asked him what he did in the sandbox. "I was making Snow Angels".
A week or two later: more sand in the hair. "I was making pretend cookies in the sandbox with Abi and Ryan." And he proceeded to tell me about adding the flour, butter, sugar, etc. (though for some reason he thinks we use milk to make cookies).
*I should probably take responsibility for this one since we had been making “real" cookies at home the day before this incident.
And this morning? Again, the shoes full of sand. And the answer to “what were you doing in the sandbox today?”

"I was rolling around like a pig."

UPDATE:
Today, I could see the sand on him from across the parking lot.  On his face.  Coating the top and back of his hair.  Pools of it in his ears.  What were you doing in the sandbox today?
"Swimming like a fish."